Poster abstract
Clouds to Cores: A 3.4mm Continuum Emission Study of Circumstellar Material in Ophiuchus
Abstract
Circumstellar disks are the birth sites of planet formation. Both disk mass and dust opacity spectral index are crucial disk parameters in understanding the early stages of planet formation. These properties are directly measured from millimeter continuum emission, that is sensitive to the optically thin, cooler outer regions of circumstellar disks.
The results presented are of a 3.4mm continuum survey using the OVRO interferometer, on a sample of 34 members of the \rho Ophiuchi molecular cloud, one of the nearest sites of ongoing clustered star formation. The sample consists of both starless clumps and Class 0-II young stellar objects, spanning the evolutionary sequence of low mass star formation. These observations investigate circumstellar material in the form of a circumstellar disk and surrounding envelope.
Continuum emission is detected in 22 of the sources at a 3\sigma level (typically 0.9 mJy), with a typical beam size of 3".7×2".3. The measured fluxes of the brightest Class 0 and faintest Class II range from 227 mJy to 3 mJy.
The dust opacity spectral index, indicative of grain growth, of these sources has been determined from these flux measurements, taken in combination with previous millimeter wavelength observations obtained from the literature. Estimations of the total disk masses of these sources have been directly calculated from the measured flux densities.
In addition to the continuum data we have obtained line emission measurements: HCN(1-0), HCO+(1-0), CO(1-0), the detections of which provide insight into the nature of outflows of the systems.
The results presented are of a 3.4mm continuum survey using the OVRO interferometer, on a sample of 34 members of the \rho Ophiuchi molecular cloud, one of the nearest sites of ongoing clustered star formation. The sample consists of both starless clumps and Class 0-II young stellar objects, spanning the evolutionary sequence of low mass star formation. These observations investigate circumstellar material in the form of a circumstellar disk and surrounding envelope.
Continuum emission is detected in 22 of the sources at a 3\sigma level (typically 0.9 mJy), with a typical beam size of 3".7×2".3. The measured fluxes of the brightest Class 0 and faintest Class II range from 227 mJy to 3 mJy.
The dust opacity spectral index, indicative of grain growth, of these sources has been determined from these flux measurements, taken in combination with previous millimeter wavelength observations obtained from the literature. Estimations of the total disk masses of these sources have been directly calculated from the measured flux densities.
In addition to the continuum data we have obtained line emission measurements: HCN(1-0), HCO+(1-0), CO(1-0), the detections of which provide insight into the nature of outflows of the systems.